ldentifying the barriers to Libraries as agents of Lifelong Learning: a research project.

Barbara Hull

Abstract

Students in Further Education and in Higher Education
were surveyed on the extent and frequency of their use
of institutional library resource centres and public
libraries and on their attitudes to them. Among some
significant differences identified were: Females report
greater barriers to accessing information than males;
those from "blue collar" backgrounds rely more heavily
than others on institutional provision materials; those
aged under 21 demand increased electronic access and
those over 21 more provision of paper-based materials;
non-white ethnic groups report more misgivings. There
is a mismatch between students' perception of their own
information retrieval skills and their reported difficulties.
Support from staff is seen as high in quality but
insufficient in availability.